SEB4233

Biomedical Signal Processing

Z-Transform

Dr. Malarvili Balakrishnan

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 Introduction
 The z-transform is the discrete-time counterpart of the Laplace
transform.

 It can be used to assess the characteristic of discrete-time

systems in terms of its impulse response and frequency response.

 The z-transform can be used determine the solution to the

difference equation.

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 Definition of Z-Transform

 For a given sequence x[n], its z-transform X(z) is

defined as

X (z)  
n  
x(n) z n

1
x(n) 
2 j  X ( z ) z n 1 dz

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 Z-Transform Example
A signal is defined as
x(n) = an n0
=0 elsewhere


X ( z)  a z n n
 1  a1 z 1  a 2 z 2  a 3 z 3  a 4 z 4  .....
(Open form)
n0

1 z
X (z)  
1  az 1
z  a

(Close form)

From the close form solution, there is a pole where z = a and a zero.
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 Z-Plane and Stability
 All the possible values of X(z) lies in the z-plane.
 The maximum are at the poles and the zero value are at the zeros.
 For causal sequence, the system is stable if the poles are in the unit
circle.

Unit circle Unit circle

(a) Stable System (b) Unstable system

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Solution for Difference Equation and
Transfer Function
 The z-transform can be used to determine the solution to difference
equation. Given that the input-output relationship of a linear time-
invariant system is as follows
y(n) = a(1)y(n-1) + a(2)y(n-2) = b(0)x(n) + b(1)x(n-1) + b(2)x(n-2)

 The z-transform is
Y(z) + a(1)Y(z) z-1+ a(2)Y(z) z-2 = b(0)X(z) + b(1)X(z) z-1 + b(2)X(z) z-2
Y ( z )  b(0)  b(1) z 1  b(2) z 2 
H ( z)   
X ( z )  1  a(1)) z 1  a(2) z 2 

where H(z) is the transfer function.

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General Form of the Transfer Function
 For more general case, the transfer function is in the form
N


n0
b(n) z n
H (z)  N

 n0
a (n) z n

where N is the polynomial order. The transfer function when

factorized in term of the roots is
N
 (1   ( n ) z  n )
n0
H (z)  N
 (1   ( n ) z  n )
n0

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 Inverse Z-Transform
 The system impulse response h(n) is obtained from H(z) by
taking the inverse z-transform. If the following transfer function
is used as example
Y (z) 1
H (z)  
X ( z ) 1  a (1) z 1  a ( 2 ) z  2
1

(1   (1) z 1 )(1   ( 2 ) z 1 )

 The application of the partial fraction expansion results in

1 A0 A1
H ( z)   
(1   (1) z 1 )(1   (2) z 1 ) 1   (1) z 1 1   (2) z 1

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 Relationship between the
Z-Transform and Fourier Transform
 The Fourier transform can be obtained from the z-transform by
making the substitution z = exp (j2f )
 A transfer function is
1
H (z) 
1 2
1  z 1  z
2

 The Fourier transform is

1 1
H (exp(j 2f ))  
1 1  1 
1  exp( j 2f )  exp( j 4f ) 1  cos2f   cos4f   j sin2f   sin4f 
2 2  2 

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 Relationship between the
Z-Transform and Fourier Transform
 The Fourier transform when defined in terms of the magnitude
and phase is
1
H (exp( j 2 f )) 
2 2
 1   1 
 1  cos 2 f   cos 4 f    sin 2 f   sin 4 f 
 2   2 

  1  
  sin  2  f   sin  4  f   
2
 (exp( j 2 f ))   tan 1    
 1 
  1  cos  2  f   cos  4  f  
 2 

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Frequency Response of
Transfer Function

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